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General Interface Description
VLC has several interfaces:
- A cross-platform interface for Windows and GNU/Linux, which is called wxWidgets
- A native Mac OS X interface
- An interface which supports skins for both Windows and GNU/Linux.
Below are screenshots of VLC on various interfaces. Despite these different interfaces, VLC's functions essentially work the same on all operating systems.
Windows and GNU/Linux (wxWidgets)
The interface shown below is the default for Windows and GNU/Linux (although this screenshot is from Windows, it will look similar on GNU/Linux). More features can be displayed, by selecting them in the View menu.
Mac OS X
The interface shown below is the default for Mac OS X.
Basic Playback
Play a file
To play a file, open the Media menu, and select the Open File menu item. An Open File dialog box will appear. Select the file you want to open and select Open. VLC with then start playing the designated file. An alternative is to simply drag 'n' drop your file into the VLC main interface or the playlist window from the file explorer (Finder on Mac OS X).
Play a CD/DVD/VCD
To play a CD, VCD or a DVD, open the Media menu and select Open Disc menu item. In the Open Disk dialog box, select the type of media (DVD, SVCD/VCD or Audio CD). There is also an option for No DVD menus, when reading a DVD.
You can either select the drive from which the media should be read from by selecting the drive letter from the Disc Device drop-down list or you can select the Browse button, from which you will be given a dialog box to browse to the media files.
If you want to start the DVD or VCD playback from a given title and chapter instead of from the beginning, you can set it using the Title and Chapter selectors. You can also set the Audio and Subtitles track using the selectors.
You can start playback by selecting the Ok button.
Play a network stream (WebRadio, WebTV, etc.)
To open a network stream, open the Media menu and select the Open Network Stream menu item. A dialog box will then open with three user input boxes.
The first one is for the user to select the Protocol of the stream which they wish to open (HTTP/HTTPS/MMS/FTP/RTSP/RTP/UDP/RDMP). The second box is for the user to input the Address of the stream and the third one is for the user to select the appropriate port.
You can then start playback by selecting the Ok button.
If you get some stuttering during playback, you can try to increase the size of the read buffer. This can be done in the Open Network Stream dialog box, by firstly checking the Show more options check box then adjusting the Caching selector, which allows you to choose the amount of time (in milliseconds) VLC should store data in its buffer before starting playback.
Play from an acquisition card
Getting help
Documentation
The VideoLAN documentation is made up of four documents:
- The Play-Howto (for which this article is the introduction): The complete guide to the VLC media player.
- The Streaming Howto: The complete guide to VLC as a streaming server, including practical examples to set up a streaming solution.
- The VLS user guide: The complete guide for VLS (VideoLAN's legacy streaming server)
- FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions about VideoLAN.
The latest version of these documents, in a variety of languages, can be found on the documentation page.
User support
There are different methods to get support from The VideoLAN team, including IRC and mail. For more details, please visit our Support page. Users can also visit our Official FAQ Page for more help.
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